Busted by the EPA: A Coastal Remodeler Faces the RRP Music

Busted by the EPA: A Coastal Remodeler Faces the RRP Music

Busted by the EPA: A Coastal Remodeler Faces the RRP
Music

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last
month that it has fined three U.S. contractors for violating
the agency's regulations on containment and disposal of
possible lead contamination during renovation, repair, and
painting activities — the "Lead RRP" rule. The agency
has settled with three contractors for varying amounts,
according to an agency press release
("
EPA Crackdown: Over $17K in Fines Levied for RRP
Violations").
Included among the unlucky three were two coastal
contractors: Colin Wentworth, owner of an apartment building in
Rockland, Maine, who came to the EPA's notice when video of a
crew scraping paint appeared on YouTube (fine: $10,000); and
Valiant Home
Remodelers, a third-generation New Jersey company
specializing in replacement windows and doors, siding, roofing,
sunrooms, and awnings (fine: $1500).
The EPA got interested in Valiant as the result of a
complaint from a neighbor who noticed one of the company's crew
removing vinyl siding from a house, according to company
marketing director Paul Pelosi. Coastal Connection spoke
with Pelosi this week to learn the details of the incident, and
he was more than willing to discuss the event — "After
all," he says, "who doesn't know by this time?"
"It was a sort of a perfect storm," explains Pelosi. "The
lead folks in charge of EPA Region 2 are located in a town
where we were doing some work. And that by itself wouldn't have
been enough, but a neighbor noticed us taking vinyl siding off
the house and called the EPA."
Vinyl siding wouldn't ordinarily present a lead issue,
Pelosi notes; but by the time EPA officials showed up at the
site, the job had moved on to window replacement. Later on,
Pelosi learned that the home's owner had already had the house
tested for lead, with negative results. "But it had been
several years earlier," he says, "and the owner couldn't find
the documentation. And in any case, we weren't aware of it at
the time. So we couldn't wave a piece of paper at the EPA and
say &euro;&tilde;Hey, go away.' We didn't have
the paperwork in hand. So, shame on us."
Worse for Valiant, the workers at the site the day the EPA
arrived were not trained or certified in accordance with the
RRP rule. The company's skilled people had gotten their EPA
training and certification, Pelosi says, "and we started the
job with a certified supervisor on site." But this happened to
be the week that Valiant held its annual charity event. "Each
year we raise a five-figure amount to donate to charity,"
Pelosi says. "So the certified people had left the job that day
to help set things up for the event."
Left alone on the job were workers with no EPA
certifications, including some temporary summer hires. "One of
those summer help people, on his first day, took one of those
windows and laid it on the ground, as opposed to on some sort
of plastic," says Pelosi. "And when the EPA asked,
&euro;&tilde;Okay, who has certification here?'
nobody could produce that documentation. So those were the two
central issues of the complaint."
One possibility that came up in discussions with the agency,
says Pelosi, was the option of a hearing with a third party
arbitrator. "By now the exact terminology is getting a little
hazy in my mind," Pelosi says, "but it's a situation where an
outsider, an impartial arbitrator listens and recommends a
settlement. And we said, &euro;&tilde;Yeah,
that is what we'd like to do," and the EPA lawyer said,
&euro;&tilde;No, it isn't what you'd like to
do. And if you don't believe me, doesn't matter, cause I won't
agree to it.' But what they did agree to was a pre-hearing
conference, a non-binding situation."
By the time of that semi-informal meeting, Pelosi had
tightened up his ship. "We got together with them and said,
&euro;&tilde;Okay, let's talk about what we're
doing now.' And we showed them the practices that we have put
into place. It's documented — we have our own internal
manual on it — and we gave them a synopsis of the
whole thing. And everybody in the organization, including
people like myself, who never handle a hammer or a screwdriver,
is certified at this stage. And so are our subcontractors. And
we explained the various internal forms and methods we use to
make sure that everything goes according to the law."
"All things considered," says Pelosi, "I think that they
were very impressed that, even if on that date they inspected
us we really weren't doing the best we could, certainly at this
point in time and henceforth we take this very seriously. And
I'm sure that was part of the reason for tempering the
fine."
For Pelosi, the episode is water over the dam —
something to learn from and move on. Pelosi has a bachelor's
degree in Chemistry and a Master of Business Administration,
and spent years working for Ashland Chemicals in New Jersey (he
left to join his relatives' construction company when Ashland
relocated his division to Ohio). In his old job, Pelosi had
grown accustomed to working with government regulators
— occasionally the EPA, but more commonly the USDA and
the FDA. So after Valiant's brush with the EPA enforcers, he
was expecting a little bad publicity, and prepared to take it
in stride.
"Was I surprised by the EPA press release?" asks Pelosi.
"Not in the slightest. I knew this was the kind of stuff they
were going to talk about, and I prepared the people here for
it. I told our staff, &euro;&tilde;You know
what, this is not going to go unnoticed — and so be
it. We can't change what happened that day. All we can do is
move forward and do things the right way, and possibly even
have the EPA hold us up as the right way of doing things.'"
No question about it, says Pelosi, the experience has
changed the way Valiant operates. "The people out on the jobs,
it changes the way they work every day — at least when
we run into the lead target houses, which we do fairly often.
And our sales people sell differently — they make sure
of what they're dealing with in terms of lead, and if it is an
issue, they make sure the customer is made aware of it. And
they document it, as do the folks in the field, and then I,
among the many hats I wear here, have to follow up on that
paperwork. So yeah, it makes a difference, it certainly
does."
While Pelosi's resigned to the extra work, he's on the fence
about the policy's cost. "It's a way of life," he says. "I
don't want to say it's a burden, but it's more work, no two
ways about it. It's certainly more expense." In his old job in
the chemical industry, Pelosi says, "when cost went up I was
happy, because that allowed me to charge more. When technology
changed, or certain chemicals could no longer be used, the
alternatives invariably cost more; and you'd charge more. You'd
make more money. You'd have to come up with something that was
more specialized, and thus grow your margins. I always viewed
things from that viewpoint. But now, you know, working in
remodeling, it's rough to pass that kind of cost increase along
to the customer. Especially if not everyone else is."
In his brief encounter with the EPA, says Pelosi, he thinks
the agency may have learned as much as he did. "I suspect that
it was an eye-opener for them," he says. "I said to them,
&euro;&tilde;I'm sure to you it's all random
— besides the guy who put shutters on your house last
week, you don't really know one remodeler from another. But
here's the deal: You want us around. You don't want to fine
people like us out of business. We have been around 56 years,
and the only way we could have done that is by doing things
right. And it's a family business — we've been doing
it for three generations, and we want to do it for three more
generations. So the point is, you're worried about us? Well, we
can get in line. It's Joe Blow working out of the back of his
station wagon who will simply change his name and change his
license plate if you catch him. So be aware of that —
fining people like us, it's productive, but it's not where the
real problem is going to lie.'"